Lady Aggies struggle on road in opening weekend

The Lady Aggies basketball team has experienced road woes to tip off the 2014-2015 season.

Two games away from Aggie Gym, the Black and Gold suffered a 78-51 loss to University of Arkansas-Fort Smith (UAFS) on Nov. 14 and a 115-84 defeat to 15th-ranked Harding University on Nov. 15.

Poor shooting marked the Aggies’ trip to Fort Smith to face off against the Lions – especially in the second half of the game. Nineteen turnovers on the night also did in the Black and Gold.

The first half saw Cameron and Fort Smith trading points early. The half ended with the Aggies on the heels of UAFS, trailing 33-31. Cameron shot at a clip of 31.5 percent, hitting 12 of 38 from the field. Six of those makes were from beyond the three-point line.

The Black and Gold faltered late in the second half, going scoreless from the field during the final nine minutes of the contest. The Lions would pull ahead by 22 with two minutes remaining, and the only rebuttal from the Aggies came from the free throw line.

Cameron mustered a 10 percent shooting clip in the second half, going 3-31 on the floor and 1-11 beyond the arc. Meanwhile, Fort Smith shot 46.5 from the field and dropped 45 points during the final frame.

Overall, the Lady Aggies shot 21.7 percent on 15-69 shooting, compared to the 31 percent performance from UAFS on 32-84 shooting. The Lions also controlled the glass, winning the rebounding battle 65-56.

Senior guard Jade Herl led the Aggies with 11 points in 32 minutes of play. She also contributed six rebounds to the effort.

Senior guard Jazzmine Robinson and junior forward DJ Vallier each roped in a team-high 11 boards for the Aggies. Robinson added eight points and three assists in 29 minutes on the floor, while redshirt junior guard Cristina Soriano roped in six boards and six points.

The next game against Harding showed a spike in offense for the Black and Gold, but the 15th-ranked Bison came out firing as well.

Cameron stayed within a position of Harding for the first 10 minutes of the half before the Bison went off for seven unanswered points. Senior forward Sasha Carter’s jumper with seven minutes remaining cut the lead to 30-23.

The seven-point differential would hold consistent until Cameron’s scoring went cold as the half came to a close, with Harding extending the lead to 52-38 when the buzzer sounded. Leal lead the Aggies in points with 10 for the half, and the Black and Gold shot 37.5 percent as a team.

The next half saw the Lady Aggies make enough of a charge to get within nine of Harding with six minutes left in the game. However, the Bison charged ahead with 63 points in the half on 62.9 percent shooting, compared to Cameron’s 46 points on 43.2 percent shooting.

Cameron finished the game shooting 40.6 percent from the field and 41.2 percent from three. The teams were even in the turnover department with 16 apiece, but Harding took control of the boards with 60 rebounds to the Aggies’ 33.

Leal led the team in overall scoring with 18 points in 28 minutes of action. Robinson chipped in 16 points and six boards, while Carter finished with 12 and four. Junior forward Markita Zeigler was the other Aggie with double-digit points, adding 10 with five rebounds in 15 minutes off the bench.

Herl and Montgomery added nine points each, and Herl roped in four rebounds on the defensive end. Soriano led the team with four assists and added seven points and three boards of her own coming off the bench.

The Aggies hit the road to Ada for their next game against East Central on Nov. 25. They will host Southwestern Oklahoma State for the first home game of the season on Dec. 6.